Online voting for tropical cyclone names commences today
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   The online voting stage of the Tropical Cyclone Name Collection Activity organised by the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) commenced today (December 20).
    The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific/World Meteorological Organization Typhoon Committee has adopted a list of tropical cyclone names with local characteristics nominated by its 14 Members to designate tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific and the South China Sea since 2000. The list includes 10 names provided by Hong Kong, China. When a tropical cyclone name is requested to be retired by the Typhoon Committee due to serious casualties and economic losses, the Member who provided that name will submit proposed replacement names to the Typhoon Committee for consideration.
   After consolidation and initial assessment of the suggested names collected from the public at the first stage of the Activity, there are 40 shortlisted names. The activity now proceeds to the second stage. Members of the public can vote online to select 20 suitable tropical cyclone names with Hong Kong characteristics from the shortlisted names. Participants of the voting may have a chance to receive an HKO souvenir.
    The 20 names with the highest number of votes will be incorporated into the reserve list of tropical cyclone names of Hong Kong, China. The website of the online voting is eforms.weather.gov.hk/tcname/index.fm. The online voting will end on January 7, 2024. Voting results will be announced tentatively within January 2024.